Meanwhile . . . down at Glenferrie Road . . . .

[JTR 2,897]

• Don't buy into the Melbourne hype. Well done to them and they will get pumped up all week, we'll be given no chance but we will win by at least 6 goals.
• Geee Geelong got reamed by the cheating umpires tonight. I hate Geelong but while the umpires continue to have zero accountability they will continue to get worse and worse. With even umpiring Geeling probably win, it was that bad.
• Geelong backed themselves to beat Melbourne head to head, and never fired a shot. As a result, all of Melbourne's lesser lights looked like superstars.
• Main worry for me was how bad demons goalkicking was. Law of averages will have them kicking Arsey ones next week
• Melbourne play manic but dumbarse football. If we keep our composure and structure we will smash them.
• We trashed Melbourne's brand with the 66 point belting in round 4 so I'm welcoming to demons back to the MCG with open arms next weekend. They will be having nightmares this week about the possibility of another spanking.
• Not sure what game some saw today. I think Melb played better game than yesterday's tigers. Anyone who thinks we will have it easy next week is kidding themselves. Melb tacking was 1st grade and the intensity they bought - if they repeat next week will end our season. To me both cats and Hawks looked slow and tired against two hungry teams.
• Their forward line is ordinary and ours is much better than their defence. Hawks by 13.
• I think we can't fall down to Melbourne's level, we are better but they are aggro and if we fall into their pace we could go out in straight sets. I don't think they have any edge pressure wise over us and we are definitely more skilled, just gotta keep composed which we couldn't against a much better pressure side in Richmond than Melbourne are.
• Don’t underestimate what Melbourne just did. Their contested ball and pressure was brutal and their run and spread was impressive. Sure they gave Cats a few chances to stay in it but the margin flattered Cats. And What chance Demons convert that poorly again next week?  We need to be right on our game.
• Dees appeared to cope with the pressure of finals footy pretty well imo. They just let themselves down a bit with kicking for goal. I thinks its even money next week.
• Gotta say, so glad it is not Geelong next week. I am so over the nailbiters that our matches turn in to.
• With composure we’ll take Melbourne. There pressure was nothing like Richmond’s. I’m looking forward to next week.
• Personally think Melbourne dont defend against kicking teams well. They love a scrap, but seem to struggle against us, and always play much better v geelong. If its dry, there is absolutely no reason to not be confident. If its wet, it will be tougher.
• Make no mistake we will need to kill Bambi. It will be Hawks vs Australia next Friday. Dees looked extremely dangerous last night and far too quick for the Cats. Dees are more dangerous and unpredictable without Hogan taking up space.
• If the conditions are good and we play with the same intensity as we did last time against the Dees we will win this. We laid 115 tackles, 20 in the forward 50 last time we met. Compared to their 74 and 8. I also think our team looks better on paper than the team that took on the Dees in round 4 (with the exception of Strats). I'm not sure the Dees list is much better than it was back then, Hogan and Lever both played in that game.
• Melbourne have great midfield depth no real jets on the wings, I hope to see impey, smith played in attacking positions take them on.
• Melbourne are very dangerous if they can move the ball quickly and find a short-kick target. If last time was anything to go by, they will target Hawthorn's 'defender' without a defensive side; Sicily. Richmond did in the 2nd half and look what happened.  Melbourne become vulnerable if you clog up the passage. They will also bomb the ball into the F50 in a faahion that will bring a tear of joy to Clarkson's eye.
• When things are going downhill for Melbourne, they are the most dominant side in the comp. But their Achilles heel is that when things are going against them, they drop their [censored] and struggle to turn it around. Case and point our game earlier in the year. Just got to make the game uncomfortable for a while to make them collapse - if not they could win by 10 goals.
• I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
• Didn't see much of Gawn in the second half. Was sporting a compression bandage on his calf and received treatment in rooms after the game. I'd like to see McEvoy run him ragged
• Melbourne are the AFLs 2018 fairytale. Gil likes to have a Cinderella story each year now, and this year I think it’s the Dees. We need to be prepared for some shocking frees against us. Mark my words folks, we will get the Sydney Swans round 23 treatment...
• Don’t mind the narrative going into this game- Melbourne; only team capable of beating Richmond, us; worst top four team in history. I want them drinking as much of their own bath water as possible. Truth is, our lead in to finals was a lot more difficult than the media would have you believe. And Melbourne are absolutely clueless when the ball enters their forward fifty.
• Melbourne will be hot favourites - media narrative already has them winning. That is great. If there is one club that does not handle expectation well it is Melbourne. Melbourne are high on talent but we beat them comfortably earlier in the year. Their system doesn’t worry me the same way Richmond’s does.
• Melbourne have a very solid game plan, although when the game is not played their way they don’t have a plan B. We will exploit this and give them a bath. The third will be the time to put them to the sword. 45 point win please.
• Hate to say it but for the love of god kick to whoever Lewis is manning. The champ is on his last legs and is deadset approaching crab levels.
• To beat Melbourne Smith, Gunston, Breust and Shiels all need to play well. Opposition teams are putting a hard tag on Smith and he's had no impact the last month. He needs to find a way to beat the tagger otherwise there's no one else who can run and carry like he does.
• Weight of expectation will weigh heavily on Melbourne , they play a “chaotic “ brand of footy but don’t set up as well behind the ball as Richmond which will give us opportunities we didn’t get Thursday night.
• Melbourne definitely is a better side to when we played them in round 4. In fact I felt of the four matches that were played among the 8 teams they were the best - (yes felt better than Richmond.)

[Nasher 33,617]

Most of that was pretty reasonable. I’m happy for them to be confident - taking them by surprise will make taking them down all the sweeter.

[GCDee 3,200]

Week 2 of finals both teams should be confident. 

I'm more interested in what the experts and neutral supporters think and it appears everyone is leaning toward the dees. 

Lewy will play a blinder, he is yet to knock off his old club.... what better stage to do it? 

Friday cant come quick enough, another week of work where not much will get done

[Demonland 73,914]

4 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Most of that was pretty reasonable. I’m happy for them to be confident - taking them by surprise will make taking them down all the sweeter.

They'll blame the umpires and that will be the icing.

[Demonland 73,914]

Just now, GCDee said:

Friday cant come quick enough, another week of work where not much will get done

Stay tuned to Demonland to assist you with that lack of productivity.

[Engorged Onion 10,224]

Sounds just like every opinion posted on our gamestyle 'within' Demonland...

[Demon Disciple 12,495]

Hawthorn's supporters have always been the most arrogant going around, even before their glory period of 2008-2015.

Hope all Dees supporters get to the game again. Repeat the dominance in size and noise level again this week. Nothing sweeter than putting the Hawks out in straight sets (except for maybe the pies going out in straight sets too).

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 11,039]

26 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Hawthorn's supporters have always been the most arrogant going around, even before their glory period of 2008-2015.

Hope all Dees supporters get to the game again. Repeat the dominance in size and noise level again this week. Nothing sweeter than putting the Hawks out in straight sets (except for maybe the pies going out in straight sets too).

Absolutely.

But I'm not counting any chickens just yet.

If we bring the same level of intensity and phyicality that we have for the past month or so, I recon we should roll them, but who knows.  How about that bloke talking up how Lewis is spent - he was one of our best players Vs Geelong I thought.  I get that he is venerable one on one in space, but I think that both he and the side are pretty focused on him not ending up in that position too regularly and if it happens once or twice a game, so be it.

So many of them are making their comparisons based on the game we played against them earlier in the year, which is fair enough (I'd probably do the same thing in their position), but that was pretty much our worst game of the year.  We learnt alot of things out of that game that I hope for the life of me arn't repeated next time around.   They should also remember that we blew them apart in the first quarter and if they think about it, that should worry them.  No Viney or T Mac last time around either.

 I would love to blow the Hawks away in the last quarter after a hard fort game like we did in 2015 - that would be great.  It would probably have us well and truly labeled as the side to beat outside of Richmond, but I think we would just have to embrace that and get on with things.  After all the tags which have been thrown at us over the years, you would hope the side has got use to the fugazi!

[beelzebub 23,390]

Going to be a cracking game..

Clarkson is no noob, but Hardwick's game bested him.

Some reasoned and some not so much views from Glenferrie. The same will be said of us surely.

I reckon we'll outlast them in a dire contest.

We actually seem to be getting better, more resilient and hardened.

I respect the abilities of Hawthorn. They should return the same.

A nice time to avenge 87 and 88

We're coming off 3 wins against top 8 teams...they have had some good ..some bad..some so-so results of late.

Again...a cracking game awaits

 

[Earl Hood 6,152]

13 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Going to be a cracking game..

Clarkson is no noob, but Hardwick's game bested him.

Some reasoned and some not so much views from Glenferrie. The same will be said of us surely.

I reckon we'll outlast them in a dire contest.

We actually seem to be getting better, more resilient and hardened.

I respect the abilities of Hawthorn. They should return the same.

A nice time to avenge 87 and 88

We're coming off 3 wins against top 8 teams...they have had some good ..some bad..some so-so results of late.

Again...a cracking game awaits

 

We cannot kick 1 goal 13 plus one out of bounds and three chips that fall short into the goal square over two quarters and expect not to get absolutely belted by the Hawks next week. We must get our forward act together. I have been banging on a bit this year but we just have to nail those set shots from 35m and get some, let’s say 50% accuracy on our snap shots for goal. Is that too much to ask? 

Every other part of our game plan is working and says we should get 60 plus inside 50 entries which should guarantee a win. Competitive pressure and Conversion is the key this week. 

[praha 11,253]

Mostly the same posters regurgitating the same [censored] over and over again, with the occasional random post trying to compensate for Hawthorn's own inadequacies by constantly bringing up round 4.

One even went as far as to suggest a midfield with Burgoyne was intimidating for us...after we just spanked Dangerwoodlett.

The occasional Hawks nuffie pipes in with a rational interpretation of the game...but not before jerking over their own forward line.

We are "manic", "downhill", and "erratic". Hawthorn is composed, refined and experienced.

The game won't be won or lost in the area of experience. This will be a changing of the guard. Either Hawthorn's young players stand up (deer in headlights against the Tigers), or we will smash them.

Expecting a similarly low scoring match that could go either way. The lack of respect and blatant disregard for the opponent is rather astonishing on that Hawthorn board. Their arrogance may well have peaked. At least Geelong supporters acknowledged what we could do. Hawthorn fans are like, "Yeah they're okay, but..." 

I hope we [censored] bury them.

Edited September 9, 2018 by praha

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 11,039]

47 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Going to be a cracking game..

Clarkson is no noob, but Hardwick's game bested him.

Some reasoned and some not so much views from Glenferrie. The same will be said of us surely.

I reckon we'll outlast them in a dire contest.

We actually seem to be getting better, more resilient and hardened.

I respect the abilities of Hawthorn. They should return the same.

A nice time to avenge 87 and 88

We're coming off 3 wins against top 8 teams...they have had some good ..some bad..some so-so results of late.

Again...a cracking game awaits

 

I hear most of what you are saying Bub, but it will take much more than winning Friday's final to properly avenge 87, 88 and most of the last decade.

...but it would be a good start.

[BigFez 1,466]

There's a brave Demon soul trying to educate them on the BF board but you'd have more luck smashing your head against a brick wall.  I suppose their confidence is well earned after years of success but I just can't imagine feeling that confident every week.  They keep saying how if it wasn't wet on the weekend they would have rolled the Tigers, but clearly if it wasn't wet they would have lost by 70+.  Some amazingly over-confident Hawks supporters getting around.

[MurDoc516 1,529]

14 hours ago, JTR said:

Their forward line is ordinary and ours is much better than their defence. Hawks by 13.

Obviously never heard of Nev Jetta

[Demon17 5,231]

14 hours ago, Nasher said:

Most of that was pretty reasonable. I’m happy for them to be confident - taking them by surprise will make taking them down all the sweeter.

Good comment.  Compared to the garbage/bias you read on other club sites this is reasonably balanced without the emotion either. Some comments actually reflect demonland comments during the season.

[MurDoc516 1,529]

I swear to god some footy fans are retarded. People keep saying the holy trinity is the best midfield? yeah in 2013 maybe. Look at the numbers and hell just watch Brayshaw, Oliver, Harmes, Gawn all go to work.

They bring up Smith's been tagged for a while and not looked good. Hopefully if it's true that we do the same. We've got a habit of being suprised and beaten by the obvious

[Pates 9,690]

They finished top 4 so have every right to feel confident and be favourites, but we’re very far from the team they faced the first time around. 

I feel like a dry day favours us as we just don’t seem to play wet weather footy well and Al Clarkson has drilled them very well, despite being completely outplayed by Richmond he is still a masterful tactitioner and he looked downright [censored] off at the press conference. 

[BigFez 1,466]

There is a post claiming McEvoy is every bit as influential as Gawn and that Harmes and Petracca B-Grade spuds.

[Guest]

Meh, no real difference between here and there really. Some decent insight mixed in with some of the biggest nuffies who ever nuffed.

Each game for mine is a learning experience and whether we can stay ahead of the curve. Finals throw up all kinds of challenges and it's a case of whether we adjust quicker than them.

Clarko is the best coach of the modern era and will adjust. We play a very similar style to Richmond (albeit without their experience and ability to take advantage of half chances) and he has surely had a chance to look over the tape from Thursday.

Goody needs to look at the Sydney game to see where we are vulnerable. If we go into Friday trying to play showtime football on every passage, they will eat us alive. Hawthorn have always been a brilliant field kicking team and they will try to pick the eyes out of our one to one defending. 

Lewy is bloody key here. Knowing when to go and when to hold up is paramount. 

[No10 466]

16 hours ago, JTR said:

When things are going downhill for Melbourne, they are the most dominant side in the comp. But their Achilles heel is that when things are going against them, they drop their [censored] and struggle to turn it around. Case and point our game earlier in the year. Just got to make the game uncomfortable for a while to make them collapse - if not they could win by 10 goals.

This^

If Chris Scott was half the coach Clarkson is, then this would’ve been the 1st half Geel plan last week.

Dees v Hawks will be the game of the finals.

[Willmoy1947 4,226]

Jetta onto Burgoyne.......no infringements when they are kicking for goal in last quarter.......Razer my favourite umpire hopefully.

[deebug 1,754]

1 minute ago, willmoy said:

Jetta onto Burgoyne.......no infringements when they are kicking for goal in last quarter.......Razer my favourite umpire hopefully.

Oh s*&% i wonder who the umpires are going to be for Friday night?

 

[Jaded No More 68,976]

2 minutes ago, deebug said:

Oh s*&% i wonder who the umpires are going to be for Friday night?

 

If it's Nichols you might as well admit defeat.

Hopefully since he umpired the Saturday game, he won't get the Friday as it is a shorter turnaround including the travel.

Fingers crossed we get the same 3 from last Friday. It was a very well umpired game. Free kicks even and fair. 

[deebug 1,754]

1 minute ago, Jaded said:

If it's Nichols you might as well admit defeat.

Hopefully since he umpired the Saturday game, he won't get the Friday as it is a shorter turnaround including the travel.

Fingers crossed we get the same 3 from last Friday. It was a very well umpired game. Free kicks even and fair. 

Can that happen, having the same umpires as last week? 

[ding 5,126]

1 hour ago, BigFez said:

There is a post claiming McEvoy is every bit as influential as Gawn and that Harmes and Petracca B-Grade spuds.

Harmes is rapidly approaching "A" grade status. His second half of the year has been a big factor in our improvement.

Trac, however,is not better than a "B" grader, and its up to him to change that. Not a spud, but certainly not a champ.